Pope Francis today performed a public prayer on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, during which he spoke about the war in Ukraine.
Pope Francis couldn’t hold back his tears as he addressed the war in “martyred” Ukraine during a public ceremony Thursday afternoon in central Rome. On the occasion of the traditional ceremony of homage to the Virgin Mary during the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a public holiday in Italy, the Pope walked near Spanish Square in the middle of the afternoon in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary placed at the head of a column.
“O Immaculate Virgin, I would have liked to bring you the thanks of the Ukrainian people today…” he declared, reading his speech on his feet before breaking off with emotion. His body trembled, the Pope was silent for long seconds through tears, then the crowd present warmly applauded him.
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Then he resumed the thread of his speech, leaning on the armrest of his chair but stopping: “… of the Ukrainian people for the peace that we have been asking the Lord for some time”.
“On the other hand, I must present to you once again”, he continued, his voice still changed by emotions, “the plea of the children, the elderly, the fathers and mothers, the young of this martyred country that suffers so much”. Already in his public Angelus prayer at noon in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope had invoked “the all-encompassing desire for peace, especially for the suffering and martyred Ukraine”.
The pope has been tirelessly pleading for peace since the start of the Russian invasion in February, a topic he regularly addresses in his speeches. In an interview published by the American Jesuit magazine America at the end of November, the pope denounced the “cruelty” that Ukraine was being confronted with because of the Russian offensive.